Fishtales

My kids give it 5 stars
There's lots of mermaid movies these days. We rented this one with Ariel's new cartoon, and the kids loved it. The premise: a American professor, a classicist, at Oxford is sent on a leave of absense to a romantic, Greek island to complete his research or lose his position. His young daughter accompanies him, and as is in most of these tales, Mama is deceased. But they love each other and have lots of fun wherever they go(some similarites to "Nim's Island"). On the island, the daughter is befriended by a beautiful "goddess", aka, mermaid, and they swim and frolic and chit-chat about life, love, being human and helping her dad with his work and perhaps his lovelife. Meanwhile, Dad struggles to translate an ancient, Greek parchment, and is beseiged by a local matchmaker and her girls. A crusty fisherman(Alki David, who also wrote, directed and overacted in the movie) and his cute son seek to discover and capture the mermaid.

From an adult perspective, it has it's Ok...

Cute mermaid movie!
I bought this movie in high hopes that it would have plenty of "mermaid action" in it. It does!!! The mermaid and her tail are beautiful and you get to see her as a mermaid swimming in the ocean and also as a woman walking on land. My 9 year old daughter, the mermaid fanatic, really enjoys this movie!!!! Good for pre-teen to adult. (It is suitable for younger children, but they may be bored by the storyline).

Cute for kids, but somewhat odd
Fishtales is a cute movie for kids, but doesn't rise much further than that. As the cover art suggests, it's about a professor who falls in love with a mermaid while visiting a Greek island with his daughter. Also, there's a curmudgeonly Greek sailor who tries to capture the mermaid's jewels. Fishtales hits all the right romantic comedy notes, such as the single dad, magical love spells, and happy ending emphasizing the power of love. But the movie gets pretty silly, and will probably seem more corny than funny to most adults. Billy Zane's character, a professor, seems to procrastinate all the time and end up in ridiculous poses (his daughter finds him sleeping on his desk with his butt sticking out in the air. Other parts just seem awkwardly scary, like the Greek sailor trying to run the daughter over. Some of these parts might even be a bit too scary for little kids. Overall, it's a mixed bag that could have been better, but has its charms.

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